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Chloe is our latest foster puppy and definitely the most memorable so far.

One of the perks of getting a new puppy is that you get to name her.  Chloe was a bit hard to name because her personality is so big that one name wouldn’t quite cover it all.

First of all, she doesn’t bark (or didn’t until this week), she chirps.  Next is that she loves humans- all humans.  All she wants is to follow humans around or lay by them if they are sitting, unless she wants to play with you (which feels more like fighting with her sharp little teeth).  She will take other animals as a second choice and her best friend at my house is a cat, Tesla, that thinks he’s a dog and is a bit aloof.  Chloe has made friends with him and they are wrestle buddies.  Chloe’s other friend at my house is a long haired Chihauhau/Terrier mix, Gertie, and they play tag and wrestle.

Chloe gets the “monkey” middle name because she climbs like a monkey.  The first day in our home she climbed the fence that was to contain her, we put her in a bigger fence where the bars were spread a bit further apart- and she climbed that. Today she climbed my jeans just like a cat.  And she has no fear.  Nothing, no one, no fear.

The princess in her name comes because she is a princess.  Everything has to be her way and just right.  She is intelligent enough to figure out how to get things to happen her way- and cute enough to pull it off.  This has been a busy time since she arrived because she’s managed to wrap five adults around her paws and make them dance to her tune.

So, Miss Chloe Monkey Princess, you can sleep at the foot of the bed for the last time tonight because I don’t want to hear you chirp and wail our last night together, you just don’t like the thought of being in a kennel and humans not being in touching reach.

And tomorrow you’ll go to be a dog.  We’ll be praying you find a forever home with a human that wants a smart, creative, determined, stubborn and very loving little monkey princess.  We’ll pray that your new home will appreciate both your monkey talents and princess traits.  And we’ll miss you.

UPDATE: Chloe Monkey Princess found a home with a 15 year old girl that totally appreciates her need for being a princess.  Last time I saw her she was sporting a beautiful pink collar and wrapped in a pink blanket.  From her throne in her Momma’s arms she threw me the “look at where I am now, pheasant” look and strode out of my life.  LOL.   Perfect home for you, Miss Chloe.

There is nothing to brighten your day more that babies, and in my case, puppies!

Our local dog rescue , Lake County Animal Services, has some very sweet dogs that need homes, and though I’ve stretched the limits of our fur family as far as I can, it is fun to know that I can “borrow” some of that sweetness for a few days.
Here are the two that are visiting now.  One is a boy, one is a girl.  I’ll let you guess from the pictures which is which (because the girl posed, the boy wouldn’t).

The little boy melts my heart by coming up and asking to be held and then sharing puppy kisses.  The little girl is more independent and she was up in my lap when nap time came, two sleeping puppies are an excellent excuse to take a nap myself.

It just didn’t get better than this. Do you have a room in your house and heart for a new family member?  Check out Lake County Animal Services Facebook Page and Lake County Animal Services website, just in time for to share your Holiday.

Social media is overwhelming with the hundreds of different platforms and the learning curves that go along with signing up on them. Add to that the struggle of remembering where your profiles are, then stopping by with some regularity to interact – - it is enough to make you decide not to participate at all.

I’ve really been elbows deep into XeeMe.com for the last few days and here’s my opinion. I think, at the very least, it is a great way to gather up all your social media profiles in one place. Think of it as an address book for the different “you’s”. You can store your profiles, including the password (if you choose to) so that everything is very easy to access. It is a great tool for the social media novice.

Now that I have an established presence on XeeMe.com, I am finding it just as useful to find and connect. When someone posts their XeeMe link, I can easily go to their page, see all their profiles and then choose to engage or not. If I choose to engage, I just click over to their Twitter, Facebook or other profiles and “BOOM” I’m connected. The Magic continues when that person connects back.

I know I’ve just barely scratched the surface of the potential of the XeeMe.com site. I look forward to learning more about what it can do and how Xeeme.com will support me in interacting with all my social media sites.

Come over an XeeMe at http://XeeMe.com/didavis. I look forward to connecting with you.

Today I met the most beautiful chocolate lab I’ve ever seen.  Her beauty not withstanding, Henna is just a very sweet and loving little girl.

Henna was part of a litter of puppies rescued by the Lake County Animal Services .  When she was being spayed by a local vet, they found that she had a heart murmur.   With a donation of an MRI, the full extent of her heart condition became apparent and she was diagnosed with a problem that is shared by humans and dogs, when she was born her heart didn’t change from a fetus heart that is fed by an umbilical card to a heart that worked independently once she was born.

Now it is clear that unless Henna receives surgery she may not see her first birthday.  The Lake County Animal Services are coming to the community to ask for help to pay for her surgery and allow her a full and healthy life.  They have set up a crowd funding site to allow everyone to contribute what they can toward Henna’s health care.  If 1500 people donate $1 each, Henna’s surgery will be paid for, and if 300 chip in $5 it will also be paid for- a very easy and painless way to make a difference.  Check out their site on Chip-In and donate what you can, please.

I also want to take this opportunity to say something that the amazing folks that run the Lake County Animal Services won’t say, they really can use some help for all the animals they save.   Though the crowd funding is strictly for Henna and will be used for her care, there are other furry souls that could also use some support.  Please consider visiting the Lake County Animal Services website and sending in a donation toward all the other furry folks in their care.  Rescuing is a passion and a service from the heart, let’s make that service just a bit easier and make it possible for them to save a few more furry souls by making a contribution to this great service to our community.

In addition, if you are considering family portraits for Christmas or high school senior portraits, Diane Davis Photography will make a donation of $25 per session for every session completed in the month of September.  For more information on commissioning a session with Diane Davis Photography, visit us , call us at 707-262-5891 or email info@DianeDavisPhotography.com.

Here’s our complete session with Henna-

I’ve preached to all my clients and anyone else that would listen to me how important it is to keep your content on your website and just link to Facebook because eventually, Facebook would be replaced so all your content there would be lost. This week, it looks like my prediction may come true. Christine McLeod has collected these videos and share them with you.  What do you think?

My friend, Marcie, and I went to the beach to celebrate the Summer Solstice.   After the long winter, it seemed the perfect way to celebrate.  After an very fun day of laughter, dreaming, creating and trading bars sessions we headed home with the top down on the car- and even celebrating that our skin saw way too much sun.

It’s portrait season.  Families are getting together, high school seniors are memorializing their year, and it just feels like a good time to have a portrait created.

Aside from hiring a competent photographer, the next most important thing to do is to put some serious thought into your clothing choices.  It is always best to choose clothing with no patterns.

For group portraits, make sure your clothing matches.  The easiest combinations are all white OR all black.  Often when people are told either white or black they hear white and black- which is not a helpful combination.  If you choose a dark color and then some people wear a light color all people will see when they look at the image is the light clothing, not the faces of the people you love.  Same goes if most to the group are in a light color and then some people wear dark colors.

Spend some time planning your clothing choices for your next portrait.  You will be very happy you did.

The end of June my husband and I will be married 29 years.

We were struggling college kids and, because of that, we were ecstatic when a family friend offered to photograph the wedding as our wedding gift.  With several cameras, including medium format, and a portfolio that was “good enough” we accepted the offer to photograph our wedding as a way to save some of the money of our meager budget.   Our wedding celebration was in two states so that we could celebrate with both of our families.  We also had another friend that also was reasonably proficient with a camera photograph the second location.

It is almost thirty years later.  We didn’t get any images from the second location.  That photographer had some malfunction with her camera/film/whatever, and we lost the friendship because she was embarrassed and we were so disappointed.   The images we do have are still sitting in a box with the negatives- never an album we could proudly share with family and friends.  There were a few images that were acceptable, none of the two of us together.   What we have is what we have- and why I will be investing a major portion of the wedding budgets for my children’s wedding in a professional, tried and true, experienced, and educated wedding photographer.

This YouTube video is a great explanation of WHY businesses need social media.

To find out how, the book The Thank You Economy is a MUST READ.